Many wheeled vehicles such as forklift trucks and pallet carts are changing the orientation of one set of wheels, such as, for example, the rear wheels, while front wheels or those wheels which are associated with the lifting mechanism are designed to rotate in a fixed plane. It is difficult to steer a vehicle of this type in confined spaces, such as where squeezing the vehicle in between other vehicles is required or when trying to maneuver pallet carts in narrow spaces. Typically, in commonly occurring designs, the vehicle is maneuvered back and forth by changing the steering wheels. This is a difficult maneuver, and requires a significant amount of time to reach the correct position so that, for example, the forklifts can engage or disengage a pallet.
It has been proposed to equip such vehicles with a particular driving design or means which displaces a vehicle in a sideways or lateral direction. Complicated apparatus including the use of a plurality of wheels and axles have been proposed. However, these designs have been utilized only to a very limited extent because of the complexity and cost.
It would be a great advantage to provide a simple and inexpensive means for moving wheeled vehicles in a lateral direction. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such a drive for lateral displacement, which can be used in a plurality of applications.